The present invention relates generally to fuel pumps for vehicles and, more particularly, to a wear resistant fuel pump for a vehicle.
This invention is related to co-pending and commonly assigned U.S. Ser. No. 09/629,688.
It is known to provide a fuel tank in a vehicle to hold fuel to be used by an engine of the vehicle. It is also known to provide a fuel pump to pump fuel from the fuel tank to the engine. One type of fuel pump is known as a high-pressure turbine fuel pump. The high-pressure turbine fuel pump typically includes an impeller rotatable between plates made out of materials that are as hard or harder than contaminants in fuel such as dirt/sand. Such materials include ceramic, hardened steel, and anodized aluminum. While such materials for the impeller and plates provide for a hard abrasion wear resistant surface, they require a very costly process to make the plates and impeller due to complicated shapes and tight tolerances.
Improved geometry including complicated shapes and tight tolerances can be obtained using injection or compression molded plastic plates. However, plastic plates are susceptible to high amounts of wear when operating in fuels with high levels of dirt/sand contamination. The contamination material is harder than the plastic material for the plates and impeller, and thus the plastic plates and impeller are easily worn away by the contamination due to poor abrasion wear resistance, resulting in a reduction of fluid flow output and causing loss of pump performance.
Therefore, it is desirable to improve the abrasive wear characteristics of a fuel pump for a vehicle. It is also desirable to provide a wear resistant fuel pump for a vehicle. It is further desirable to provide a wear resistant pump section for a fuel pump of a vehicle.
It is, therefore, one object of the present invention to provide a wear resistant fuel pump for a vehicle.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a pump section for a fuel pump that is very resistant to contamination wear.
To achieve the foregoing objects, the present invention is a wear resistant fuel pump for a vehicle including a pump section having a rotatable impeller and a plurality of plates disposed axially adjacent to and cooperating with the impeller to pump fuel therethrough. The wear resistant fuel pump also includes a motor section disposed adjacent the pump section and having a motor to rotate the impeller. The wear resistant fuel pump further includes an outlet section disposed adjacent the motor section to allow pumped fuel to exit therethrough. The impeller is made of a first compound and the plates are made of a second compound having an abrasion wear resistance on a surface thereof that improves abrasion wear characteristics therebetween.
One advantage of the present invention is that a wear resistant fuel pump is provided for a vehicle. Another advantage of the present invention is that the wear resistant fuel pump has plates made from a powdered metal with a steam oxide wear surface and a plastic impeller highly filled with ceramic chips. Yet another advantage of the present invention is that the wear resistant fuel pump improves fuel pump performance and durability in abrasive contaminant environments.
Other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will be readily appreciated, as the same becomes better understood, after reading the subsequent description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.